The rapid containment, de-contamination, and restoration of a building, facility, or other area involved in a hazardous material or terrorist incident, such as involving a biological weapon agent or a “dirty bomb,” is considered vital for the protection of the public health and welfare. In bringing such affected buildings and areas back into service during decontamination and restoration, however, a real concern is the re-suspension and further dispersion of the toxic, infectious, or otherwise hazardous particles due to particle dynamics and airflow patterns, especially the airflow patterns in buildings and in the building ventilation systems. This re-aerosolization can result in more extensive and higher concentrations of contamination in the air, which can require multiple decontamination efforts and increase the time and cost of the source reduction and cleanup process. Moreover, such particle transport and the lack of mass balance due to such airflow patterns combine to make reentry into a contaminated area dangerous for emergency and remediation personnel.
Re-aerosolization is especially problematic where the hazardous contaminant is a very small particle less than 5 μm in size, such as B. anthracis spores, since such particles are readily aerosolizable, have an ability to remain airborne (aerosols with a particle size of 0.1 to 1 μm tend to remain suspended), and can achieve significant diffusive motion in much the same fashion as for gas molecules. Weaponized B. anthracis spores in particular, are very small refined particles which are uniform in size and appearance (approximately 1 to 3 μm in size), highly concentrated, electrostaticly charged, and treated to reduce clumping. Due to their very small size and ability to remain airborne, weaponized B. anthracis spores are more likely to be inhaled and are thus considerably more lethal than unrefined spores. Furthermore, these spores have been shown to re-aerosolize with common office activities such as paper handling and foot traffic.
What is needed therefore is a tool, composition, and/or methodology that will rapidly immobilize or otherwise inhibit the re-aerosolization and further transport of hazardous threat agents. Because the inhibition of secondary aerosolization and migration of biothreat particles has important implications for public health protection and contamination cleanup, limiting further dispersion would reduce the health risk of inhaling hazardous particles during decontamination and restoration of a facility, reduce the cost of the decontamination and restoration process, and enhance remediation efficiency overall.